


Symptoms

by soundsaboutright



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Light D/s, M/M, jup this is mostly sex, sub Alec/Dom Magnus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-20
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-10-12 23:00:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17476601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soundsaboutright/pseuds/soundsaboutright
Summary: Stressed out Alec, doting Magnus, sex and banter and sex. Yap. 4k words of it, which for me, is loooong.Also, a light d/s dyamic. And so much love.Read more tags/warnings in the Author's note.





	Symptoms

**Author's Note:**

> It was suggested in a comment to ‘When you open me all the power in me moves’ that I’d explore the light d/s dynamic between Alec and Magnus, that might have reared it’s shy head in the one or other fic of mine, a bit more.
> 
> I guess this is that.
> 
> This is nothing drastic, more along the lines of what you already know from me, but I’ll put more tags in the notes after the text, so scroll down, if you’re unsure if this is for you, dear reader. I just don’t want to spoil everything beforehand<3 
> 
> Magnus has his magic in this one, because of reasons, so it might be set in the future, or as well in their recent past.

“Have you eaten?”

Alec closes tonight’s patrol status report on his phone. “No. Haven’t found the time.” He sets it aside on the dresser in the living room and turns to Magnus. “Not really hungry, though-“ He stops when a frowning Magnus enters his line of sight, one of two steaming cups he’s carrying extended wordlessly to almost right underneath Alec’s nose. It smells delicious, some kind of a rich and creamy soup with exotic spices.

And it’s true, Alec isn’t really hungry, but the hot drink’s a compromise and he takes it. Hoping that in return Magnus won’t mention the raw patches of skin on Alec’s knuckles, and the healing rune he forgot to draw after he’d been through with the punching bag.

“Thank you.”

Magnus' eyes flicker over Alec's hand accepting the cup, but there is a smile on his face just the same, and he nods to the couch: “Let’s sit.”

They settle in next to each other in companionable silence. The soup is just the perfect temperature to drink and Alec almost empties the small cup in one go. And of course it tastes divine. He hums appreciatively, and Magnus sets his own cup down to scoot closer to Alec, placing hands warmed by the hot ceramic on each of Alec’s shoulders.

Alec's eyes fall closed.

“You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself, or your body.” It’s barely more than a whisper, but Magnus must feel Alec tensing because there’s a soft press of lips between Alec’s shoulder blades the next moment. Alec deflates. “I'm not.”

He doesn’t want to be defensive. He wants Magnus’ touch. And he wants Magnus not to worry, so he tries for light: “My body is trained to withstand much more. Won’t be killed by one missed meal, I promise.” He doesn’t know if it was exactly the right thing to say, so he pushes back into Magnus’ hands for good measure.

A heart beat of silence, then Magnus’ softened voice: “Oh, I know.” More kisses against worn cotton. “I wouldn’t mind, though, if we were to get from ‘what your body can do’ to more of a ‘what your body can do _for you_ ’ approach...”

Alec swallows and lets out a tired chuckle. He isn’t sure he completely follows, because honestly, Magnus’ hot, damp breath through the thin material of his shirt is quite distracting.

“What my body can do for me?”

“Yep. “ The playfully popped p is a brush of air on Alec's nape. “Want to let me show you?” And that is definitely a smile hidden against the fabric between his shoulders.

“Mmmm.”

The single syllable stretches between them, and Magnus sounds amused: “Is that a yes?”

“Yeah… yes, that’s a yes.”

* * *

Magnus’ hands come up to his neck then, gentle fingers trying and smoothing out the tight muscles there.  And before Magnus first did this to him, it was just an abstract medical, tactical concept to Alec: How applying pressure along the sides of your neck, where the vagus runs, can influence and regulate a person’s autonomic nervous system. Slow their pulse, lower their blood pressure.

It was just a concept, theoretical.

And maybe it isn’t just that, maybe it’s for that touch to be so close to what’s most vulnerable, maybe it’s just that Alec carries so much tension here in the tendons of his neck.

But Alec wasn’t prepared, isn’t, every time anew, for the deep sense of safety and warmth that floods him under Magnus’ expertly exploring ministrations.

When Magnus does this for him, Alec _thaws,_ melting into the touch.

“Oh,  Alec.” Magnus voice is so low, Alec isn’t even sure he is supposed to hear: “For all that your body stands so calm you sure have a storm inside you.”

Alec exhales slowly, and something in his gut responds; he wants to answer Magnus somehow, but finds he doesn't know what to say.  

Magnus continues, words almost inaudible, spoken against the hairline above Alec’s nape: “It makes me want to coax it up to the surface, where I can kiss it better.”

Alec closes his eyes, and swallows. It’s a strange thing to say.  Yet it calls to an un-named feeling inside of him.

“Okay.” His own voice sounds rough to his ears.

He doesn’t quite know why his hands are shaking, as he puts them on top of Magnus’ on his neck. He just knows that he _wants_.

So he holds on and caresses along Magnus’ fingers, knuckles and rings.

Magnus hums, sound full of affection and warm amusement, and it’s heavenly to Alec.

“Choose one.”

“What?”

A soft chuckle. Endless patience.

“A ring, Alexander. Choose one, and take it off.”

Alec’s mind feels slow and syrupy and he doesn’t know where Magnus is going with this, but he picks a less worn, less ornate silver band on Magnus left hand, not the big signature sigil rings that Magnus puts on every day.

Once he holds it on his palm, Magnus’ magic weaves around it and Alec stares into the azure flame, watching as the ring grows until it’s the width of a small bracelet maybe, smooth edges and slender, but massive silver.

Yet it’s not large enough to go over his or Magnus’ hand, so Alec contemplates it, twists it between his fingers; it’s still warm, maybe from the magic, maybe from Magnus’ skin.

The moment Alec _understands_ , a flush spreads heat all up into his cheeks and he feels Magnus’ laugh against his neck.

“It- it’s to…”

“Yes. Well. It lets you stay harder longer and it might take longer for you to be able to come.”

Alec blinks. “So this one’s… for me?” He lifts an eyebrow.

Magnus laughs, a light and joyful thing. “I am not complaining about your stamina, Alec. Think of it more as giving me more time to… take you apart tonight. If you want it, that is.”

 _Yes._ Alec gauges the solid weight in his hand, tracing a finger over the shiny, hard surface, getting used to the concept. _  
_

“Yeah. I think…. Yeah. But what about you?”

Magnus’ arms are wrapped around Alec’s shoulders from behind then, and his lips move directly against Alec’s ear:

“Oh, believe me, Alexander, this is as much for me as it is for you. “ A peck to his earlobe. “Sound good?”

 _Yes_. “Yes.”

“Good.” Magnus pats Alec’s shoulders once more, and moves to get up. “Then don’t get too excited just yet, or it might get that much harder to put it on.”

Alec’s mind stumbles and Magnus winks. It is not helpful at all.

“Bedroom, Alexander.”

He complies.

* * *

The ring sits tight, and Alec’s cock feels heavy, every jostling movement sending a thrilling pull inside up to his belly button. And there has been _a lot_ of movement, since Magnus has had him lose all his clothes, and has been maneuvering him around the bed. So Alec’s hard already, back propped up on countless pillows against the headboard in an almost sitting position. 

Magnus is in front of him, straddling one of his thighs, naked as well but for the briefs he’s still wearing.

Alec wants him closer, always closer, so he slides his fingers into the elastic waistband, to pull them off, to pull Magnus in, either way seems good, but Magnus shoos his hands away.

“No, those are staying on. Wouldn’t want you distracted.” Another one of those winks, and for a moment there Alec isn’t so sure that he himself is above pouting right back. Pushing the impulse down, he instead gestures to the general area of Magnus’ torso and face. “Don’t know ‘bout that, still a lot of distracting going on over here…”

Magnus smiles and catches Alec’s hand mid-movement. He intertwines their fingers and meets Alec’s gaze: “Oh, I know. But I need your skin on mine.”

And at that, Alec can only nod.

At the glint in Magnus’ eyes and the simple gravity of his inflection.

Magnus takes Alec’s other hand then, never breaking their eye contact, and he brings both of Alec’s arms up, wrists onto the pillows above his head. Alec’s breath might get stuck in his throat a little, as he watches Magnus.

Magnus, who's contemplating Alec’s face, the strained lift of his chest and the frame of his shoulders, and in a careful move he leads Alec’s arms down again, places them a bit outward next to Alec’s waist, and Alec lets their weight settle. After a moment Magnus lets go, drags his fingertips across Alec’s palm, then rests them on his pulse points, pressing wrists down into the give of the mattress for emphasis.

Alec thinks he knows what Magnus means; but then Magnus is leaning in, kissing him. So slow, and so very deep.

It’s second nature by now, to want to complete that embrace, to hold onto those shoulders, onto Magnus’ neck to keep him close, keep him right here. Alec feels suddenly hot all over, when he catches his own movement half-way, and brings his arm down again.

Magnus must have seen from the corner of his eyes, because he smiles against Alec’s lips: “Do you want me to bind your hands with magic?”

 _Yes_. Alec flexes his fingers and feels himself nodding. There’s lightness in his head and a rush in his ears as his heart picks up, but there’s also Magnus’ hand on the muscle of Alec’s chest, propping up his leaning weight, drawing soothing circles just below Alec’s collarbone.

The other hand taps Alec’s wrists again and there’s a surge of electric blue that dissolves into a lingering tingle for Alec to chase, raising goose bumps along his skin.

He finds Magnus waiting for him to meet his eyes: “They’ll hold, Alec, but should this ever not be what you want anymore, one word from you will break them. You choose that word now, Alexander. It should be something that comes to mind easily.”

The continuous caress of Magnus’ thumb on his chest is an anchor to Alec, and he forces himself to think for a moment, surprised how easy the decision comes to him, and how much sense it seems to make.

“I think it should be _stele_.” The thing he’d instinctively reach for.

“Very good choice.” Alec fights the impulse to shrug off the languorous shiver, that the gentle words have sent along his spine.

There’s a soft shockwave of blue again, as the spell adjusts. Alec bites his lip as his dick twitches with it.

Magnus leans back and shifts his weight, and Alec’s own chin lifts, his whole body following after Magnus of its own volition. The subtle stretch in his chest from having his wrist kept in place makes him feel wide open, every need and desire inside radiating out towards Magnus; it makes breathing easier and more difficult at the same time.

Magnus eyes grow darker, and he rearranges his position only lightly, sweeping a soothing hand along Alec’s side.

“I am right here, Alexander.” His voice is very soft then, but the melodic cadence of Magnus speaking has Alec captured completely.

“I won’t deprive you of touch.  You’ve been deprived long enough.”

Alec swallows, pauses. Stares and studies that face in front of him, his mind struggling to evaluate. He has a sudden notion that Magnus is not talking about Alec alone here, so he finds he doesn’t want to qualify those words, doesn’t want to say anything. It is true, after all. He hopes it’s in his eyes, as much as it is in Magnus’.

Magnus nods and aligning their bodies, ghosts his cheek over Alec’s. He cups Alec’s face in both his hands, thumbs placidly tracing over the corners of Alec’s mouth, then drags his palms down to rest on the sides of Alec’s neck for a moment again.

“Now, I want you focused on _your_ pleasure. Every sensation your body gives you. That _I_ give you. Ok?”

There's a flash of golden yellow in deep brown eyes. If Alec could only make him comprehend what Magnus’ voice alone does to him. 

Magnus kisses him again, with the same pace that his hands employ to close and open their loose grip below Alec’s ears. So slow and sure and steady, that Alec can’t help but assimilate that rhythm:

From the way he opens his mouth to be kissed, to the rise and fall of his chest. From the flex of his fingers and his toes against the mattress, to the tiny, involuntary, circular motions of his hips.

They push his thigh up against the heat of Magnus’ body where he kneels over it, and makes Alec’s own heavy cock shift on his belly, pulling on the ring that's having Alec sense every pulse inside the veins standing out, with the pounding beat of his heart.

Magnus’ hands move outwards to each side, then, brushing blunt nails along the tender skin of Alec’s forearms. Alec never thought that those spots on his body could ever feel this naked and laid bare and open. When Magnus reaches the inside crooks of his arms, Alec surprises himself with a gasping moan. Magnus stops kissing him with a smile, stays close but sits back a bit. Alec blinks his eyes shut again; everything seems so very charged.

Deliberate fingers dance along the insides of his biceps and down along where chest muscle meets armpit. Another sharp intake of breath, as Alec’s body tries to twist into the contact even more. And Alec should probably be embarrassed over how out of proportion his response to being touched there is, only he isn’t.

Magnus’ fingers trace around the outer definition of Alec’s pectoral muscle, around over solar plexus and collarbones, against the grain of raised hairs and shivers along Alec’s sides.

A jolt runs through all of Alec’s body as suddenly the same light fingers are on his balls, tap onto silver once, then ghost up along his shaft, only to move back to his chest again. Hips strain to lift up to not lose the contact, but Magnus keeps Alec’s thigh bracketed between his own, limiting his reach and range of motion.

Alec’s mouth feels dry from the huffs of breath that leaves his lips, as Magnus traces the same path as before again and again, using more of the back of his nails, never any faster than before.

Alec is arching up from each of his wrists bound in place, like a bow from notch to notch, against the tense string of sensation that Magnus pulls tight.  He is _made up_ of strings, everywhere, the stretch of his arms and chest, taut tendons straining along his hips. That cord of connection that seems to run from the hypersensitive underside of his cock to his balls, branching off to behind his belly button, to that diffuse spot inside somewhere below his taint, to the network of nerves around his hole.

A touch, a pull anywhere along that cord will erupt in dull sparks in all those places, a hazy kind of heat pooling inside his lower body, steadily building, never enough.

Alec is writhing against his bindings, by the time Magnus wet fist finally closes around him, looser than usual, looser than Alec’s own would be. The warm, smooth hardness of Magnus rings is lost in the bend of his fingers, blending in with all the maddening non-friction.

“Tell me when you’re close.”

 Alec’s mind stutters. “I’m… I’m close….”

“Tell me when you’re just about to come.”

Alec swallows back a gasp and tries to concentrate. It’s so different. Between the metal ring restricting him below his balls, and the controlled slowness of Magnus’ hand, he is almost painfully hard, skating the edge for what feels like too long. But every time he thinks that he’s about to burst, his body seems to go the extra step, and it isn’t yet enough, only coils that much tighter.

Through it all, Magnus has his other hand on Alec’s chest, grip on his pec hard and pulling, fingers digging into the flesh, partly to balance Magnus’ weight, partly for just one more point of contact. And it drives Alec crazy, the polarity of fleeting grazes of fingers everywhere else on his body, and then the anchor of that firmer touch; Alec wants it so much, needs it, like he needs his wrist pinned down to push all his passion against, to keep him from floating away right now.

He registers faintly that Magnus has rearranged his position, letting go of Alec’s dick again to drag careful nails over the sensitive skin of his hipbone. It brings Magnus knee nudging up against Alec, blunt pressure to the space between Alec’s balls and his hole and it feels so warm, so good, and Alec’s body wants more of it; twisting and lifting, trying and riding back down onto it.

Alec thinks he hears Magnus say something, but he’s so lost into chasing his pleasure, he needs to blink a few times to focus. Magnus’s gaze is on Alec, and his face is flushed and full of so many emotions Alec can’t begin to untangle them all; full of pride and awe and affection.

“You want me there, beautiful?” Magnus shifts his leg a bit and Alec makes a sound that _needs_. Then Magnus slick hand is on his dick again, rubbing just underneath the head, and he keeps on doing it, and Alec shouts, muscles pulling tight. It feels sudden, even with all that build up:

“Now, Magnus, I-”

Alec knew it what was coming, and still he isn’t prepared; never is; because Magnus _stops_ and Alec’s muscles contract hard with the sudden lack of stimulation, body holding tight and together, not knowing where to go. It’s a wave of compressed heat, and his dick is trickling cum weakly, and Alec’s eyes are wet with all the blissful but contradictory sensations.

He’s breathing so fast, and it feels good, but so very intense. He's still wound so tight.

Magnus' hand is on him again, and he is so very oversensitive, body twitching and curving up, instinctively trying to get away, though Alec doesn't want to be anywhere but exactly right here.  “Magnus, I…”

“Do you want me to stop?” Magnus’ hand on him stills. The shake of Alec’s head is immediate and vehement and he wants to kiss the hand stroking soothing circles along his collar bone again.

“N- No, don’t stop, please.”

“Do you want me to keep going?” Magnus voice is caressing him right along with the movement of his thumb against heated skin.

“Yes.” _Yes._ Alec wants more, wants to see where this goes, wants relief.

Magnus sets a gentle rhythm using only two of his fingers at first, and Alec goes white knuckled, head thrown back against the pillows with a gasp. His muscles quiver with exertion, all the held tension, body chasing that sensation from before and mindlessly basking in the intensity of that new one, pushing into it with all that Alec has.

The hand on his chest leaves, but before Alec can mourn its absence, it takes the place of Magnus' knee between his legs, a broad warm press of palm and a rolling motion against him, steady and rhythmic and toe curling.

It’s like Alec’s body is mirroring the ever building heat inside, everything about him straining up and against where he is anchored down, and Magnus' strokes are steady now, even if still slow.

“Look, Alec.”

It takes an unfair amount of concentration just to open his eyes and tilt his head so that he can see, but when he does, Magnus holds up his index finger a little, and it’s surrounded by dancing light, a crackling blue, pulsing energy. And the thought of it alone should be too much, to have that on his skin, but then Magnus speaks:

“You expect to be punished when you do wrong, Alec, but why do you not expect to be rewarded to the same extent, when you do good?” The words trickle like water on overheated skin, and Alec isn’t sure he understands everything they are, right now, but they are Magnus’ words, his voice, and they wash over him, when Magnus touches his magic down to the ring of silver, and Alec is set alight.

It’s a drawn out moan, bursting pinpricks of gentle electricity in the wake of the line Magnus draws up his shaft.  “Do you see what your body can take?” Echoes of tiny spasms shaking his body closer to what Alec knows is inevitable now.

Magnus' magic reaches up and around the head of Alec's cock, and that's it, Alec is finally coming, muscles locking down, and he thinks he might lift Magnus a bit off the bed with him, with the sheer force of it all, before everything whites out into bliss, reflief and release.

_(“You are your body, Alec. Your body rewards you, do you feel that? You are rewarded…”)_

They aren’t all the words that Magnus whispers to him, kissed into the side of his neck through ebbing muscle spasms; there’s more, praises and love, but somehow those are the words that Alec will remember later.

For now, with their heartbeats and breathing slowing down, everything is a cocoon of soft and dark and weightless, as Alec’s eyes fall closed, his body back into the pillows.

* * *

Alec comes to shortly to Magnus rubbing gentle patterns into his stomach, and the silver ring falls away. He finds his hands are already unbound and wrapped around Magnus’ shoulders. Alec thinks he couldn’t open his eyes if he wanted to, and simply revels in fingertips dragging up his arms again, brushing close to the tendons of his neck. Everthing is white clean sparks and velvet. He drifts once more.

* * *

The next time Alec surfaces, he can't tell how much time has passed. It cannot be too much, though, since Magnus is still propped up next to his side, playing with their intertwined fingers.

The heavy sleepiness has left Alec, and his body _hums_ , warmth still tingling everywhere beneath his skin, unwound muscles delightfully sore.

Magnus bends his head then, and kisses Alec’s chafed knuckles, and Alec watches the redness vanish.

And like that the words find him, before he even knows where they will go, and Alec speaks. He feels light, even if his voice is slightly hoarse.

“I sometimes want it, you know. The scraped skin, the light discomfort of a missed meal. I mean, most times I just forget, but sometimes… I do it because… with all that’s happening, it seems to give all this stress, this tension inside a shape I can work with. This”, he wiggles his fingers, stretching the smooth skin over his knuckles, but never letting go of Magnus’ hand, “…this feels like something  I can handle, that I can work to overcome, to endure. If it’s physical, it has substance… it has rules. In its physicality it has rules. I don’t know.”

A beat of silence.

“I know, Alexander.”

Alec turns his head a bit to look at Magnus. His eyes are down, still studying the soft pink of Alec’s healed hands. A strand of hair still clings to his forehead with a thin layer of sweat, and just like that a wave of gratefulness washes over Alec. Of course Magnus knows.

“Thank you for telling me though.” Magnus looks up then, and the smile on his face is sweet; it takes Alec’s breath, like so often.

“Well, thank _you_. For tonight.”

“My pleasure, Alec.”

Alec cocks his head and shuffles a bit more to his side, towards Magnus, searching out his eyes:

“Oh, I don’t know, I think it was mostly _my_ pleasure, though.”

A wide smile, lopsided: “Alexander believe me, I am deeply, perfectly content and happy right now.” There’s hands on either side of Alec’s face again. 

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”  

Alec touches their foreheads together for a moment, then loses himself to the depth of warm brown eyes. So he sees the glint in them before Magnus even speaks:

“Well, _almost_ perfectly content, I have to say, except that I _am_ rather hungry right now.”

Alec huffs a laugh and stretches to get a look at the nightstand: “It must be, what, past midnight now?”

Magnus makes a tutting sound and wiggles his fingers: “Good thing we’re not bound to any takeout service hours then!”

He gives Alec a wide grin, that Alec returns.

Magnus makes to get up: “But I was actually thinking something sweet, warm, maybe homemade… Rice pudding? “

He looks at Alec expectantly, hair a little crumpled and features soft.

Alec doesn’t have to hesitate.

“Yeah. Yeah, I could eat.”

The smile Magnus gives him is blinding.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Additional tags and warnings: light d/s dynamics, sub Alec/Dom Magnus, hurt/comfort, implied self-harming tendencies, cockring, light magical bondage, orgasm play, light overstimulation, edging, magic during sex
> 
> That should be it, I think?
> 
> Anyways, I'm hoping on your feedback <3


End file.
